ESPM 4295 -GIS in Environmental Science and Management

Week 1 - Introduction and Course Mechanics

Read and understand the Student Code of Conduct and Academic Integrity

Read the Semester Project Description, to get an idea of what we're heading for over the next 15 weeks, and look at the Rainfall Mitigation description and the Metropolitan Council Summary for additional motivating information.

Before the end of class on Wednesday, sign up for one of the project areas on the St. Paul Campus (Study area assigments )

Create a practice geodatabase in NAD83(CORS96) UTM Zone 15 coordinates. The purpose is to dust off elementry digitizing and geodatabase creation skills, in case you haven't used them for a while. We also want you to get familiar with the image data on the class L drive (see a description in the rightmost column), and your study area.

Create a feature data set and two feature classes, as described in the following paragraphs.

The first feature class should contains a point data set. Open ArcGIS and display an image of campus (see the Resources column, to the right, for a description), and digitize points on the St. Paul Campus for

1) the water tower next to Green Hall,

2) St Paul student center as a line feature, and

3) Your study area boundary as a polygon feature.

The first feature class should be a point, the second feature class should be a line layer, and the third a polygon layer that defines the boundary of your chosen study area.  Use the images in the handout as a guide for the approximate boundaries of your study area. Most boundaries consist of roads. Load a WMS image (see resources at right), and create a polygon that follows these roads, including at least the middle of the road on the outside edge of your study area. Where it is a field edge or other non-road features, follow the "natural" boundaries, e.g., fence line, ditch, or parking lot edges. Consult Paul or Andy if you have any questions on boundary location. Do this boundary carefully, you'll be using it later in the semester.

Create a map with an image background, your digitized point and line layers, and study area boundary, your name, a title, scale bar, and north arrow, and export as a pdf. Remember, you can get an image background from the ArcGIS standard backgrounds, or from the class images, described in the Resources column for this week, at the far right.

Next week, before Monday's class you must submit the map of your data, and the GDB file as a .zip archive, or similar common archive (e.g., .tar). If you do not know how to do this, see "How to Zip/Unzip" in the Resource column to the right.

If you cannot create a geodatabase, or are a bit fuzzy on digitizing in ArcMap from when you last learned it, or creating a map, then you should review the intro digitizing materials in the resources column at right, and talk to Paul and Andy. We'll expect you to be able to create geodatabase layers and digitize into them quickly and easily for next week's exercise. 

If you're still lost after reviewing the materials, or have any other questions,  ask Andy or Paul for help.

Generally, deadlines for the current week's work are described in this column.  Turn assignments in on the Course Canvas Site, unless specified otherwise. Some activities are due in the same week as assigned, but typically assignments are due the Monday of the week after being introduced.

All assignments due on Canvas, unless specified otherwise

By end of our first meeting (Wednesday Sept. 4), you must:
Sign up for a Study Area

Prior to class Next Monday, before the start of class, turn in your:

1. Geodatabase with feature classes for the water tower, student center,  and the study area boundary, and 
2. A pdf map that includes these features, plus an image background, name, title, scalebar, north arrow, and legend.

Next Monday before class is a hard deadline, you should turn in what you have. This class moves at a fast pace, and you can't be neglecting new work.  Once the deadline has passed, you will receive a 50% deduction from your graded score, and after the next class meeting, zero points. Unless noted otherwise, this will be our policy for assignments. If you're traveling out of town for another committment, pre-clear tardy submissions.

Rules to follow when turning things in:

• Unless otherwise specified, submit all data as geodatabases (GDB extension), compressed in  .zip or similar formats. 
• Submit maps as pdfs
• Include your initials at the start of your files, and a W# where # is the week at the end of the filename.  For example, I might name my map "pvb_practicemap_W1.pdf", my geodatabase "pvb_practice_data_W1.gdb" and my zip file "pvb_practice_W1.zip".

Failure to follow this naming convention for compressed and component files may result in a deduction.

When you turn in vector data layers, make sure you don't have extraneous columns in the table.  I'll be reviewing progress and table values associated with features.  The data may come with "extra" columns, or you may be generating columns through processing. Part of professional GIS practice is understanding the output from your processing, and sharing data that have extraneous "drek" removed.

Introductory Slides

Semester Project "Big Picture" Overview (refer to this throughout semester

Data and photos available for this class on the class L drive, ESPM4295W directory, in the CampusImages folder.  The L:\ drive is accessible from the computers in 35 Skok Hall, under the CFANS\LABS\ESPM4295W directory. For this class we'll refer to the subdirectory as the L Drive or as CLD for "Course Lab Drive"

The CampusImages folder contains  various high-resolution, drone-based images of the St Paul Campus. You'll be using these extensively over the course of the semester.

Each student is also assigned a L:\home\{your id} directory.
This directory is for all your class work.  The Course Lab Drives are "read only" so you will copy all needed material to L:\home\{your id} for class work.

If you are going to work outside the lab (you have access to ArcMap or ArcGIS at home or in another office), you may wish to copy the high resolution image files to a USB or similar portable drive before leaving today. You will also be albe to access them over the internet, on a virutal machine, but the connections are sometimes slow, so it is good to have options.  The internet may be unbearably slow if you don't have a very fast internet connection, with large files are prone to hiccups and restarts during transfers. 

A note on software.  While we encourage you to use ArcGIS Pro, you may use ArcMap in this course, if you learned on that version and just don't feel you can pull this off in ArcGIS Pro.  Note that you may have trouble moving back and forth between them, there appear to be some occaisional minor incompatibilities in geodatabases created with ArcGIS Pro, and then used with ArcMap. If that happens, best to stay with just one version of the software.

ArcGIS Software Access
Software are available in the 35 Skok Hall lab, both ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap.  You can also access ArcGIS and ArcMap:

Via the web (click blue-colored text for a link to a quicksheet)
Accessing via the the web - Mac or PC

but you also need to read this, about using Citrix

If you have access to a sufficiently powerful computer, and permission to load software, you can download and install ArcGIS on the desktop

If you use ArcGIS on non-lab computers, then you'll need to either copy the data back and forth, either using a USB, or a cloud drive, or for Citrix (and perhaps also your private computer) using a VPN and mapping the CFANS lab drive

You'll need to compress geodatabases before turning them in, here is a video:
How to Zip/Unzip

ArcGIS Pro Refresher

Review materials from FRNM3131 (note, data referred to is in the 3131 course files, but you shouldn't need them for understanding the mechanics):

• Review this Video, if need be, for starting ArcGIS Pro, creating a new project
• Here is a short excerpt from Lab 1 in the 3131 course, on creating a Geodatabase, and importing data into it
• Review video here on creating a geodatabase
• Review video on creating a feature dataset
• Review  videos on digitizing points
• Review video here on digitizing polygons

Week 2 - Digitize the storm sewer drains for your study area (points),
and,
Write and turn in (due the following Monday) an introduction of your final report.  I'd expect the introduction to be three pages of 1.5 spaced text, with an additional one or two figures.

Task 1 - Digitize the storm drains for your entire study area
Display and view the photos available for this class on the class L drive, ESPM4295W directory, in the CampusImages folder. Your goal is to digitize all the storm sewer drains based on the images. 

Start with the storm sewer file from UMN Physical Plant, downloadble from the resources on the right. There are several issues you'll have to address via editing with this file, but it is a good starting resource

Manually interpret grate locations based on the 2017 leaf-off image. It is best to use the most recent image, but we won't use the 2018 as our primary image because of snow and obstruction. You will need to also use the 2018, 2016, and 2015 images to look in areas where buildings, trees, or other features obscure the ground in the 2017 image, and to note changes due to construction from 2017 to 2018, if there are any. More recent images are better than older images, and leaf-off provide more information than leaf-on images. Beware of construction and changes in roads and storm drain locations in the earlier images.

Also note that the images don't register perfectly, one to another. They fit in one part of the campus, while not so well in others. Features digitized on one image don't fall exactly on top of the same feature in another. How should you adjust/account for this?

Print or create a digitial image of your map, and go into the field in your study area, and verify that:

1) all your digitized storm drains are in fact storm drains (you didn't by mistake digitize a tactile pad, manhole cover or other feature), and

2) you didn't miss any storm drains - your layer is complete.  If you find a storm drain in the field that isn't one of your digitized points, note the location, and go back to the lab and add it to your data layer. Change the verified column in your layer to Y for each field-verified grate.

Task 2 - Begin your semester-long report by writing a draft of the introduction. This should be two or four pages (not counting figures), and describe:

• the problem you're addressing,  
• why we're interested in doing this, 
• a description and map/figure of the study area (here use the entire St Paul campus, combining all four study areas), and
• the general approach you'll be using. 

You should write in the present or past tense when describing general problems or conditions (e.g., "managing rainfall runoff is one of the most common and expensive problems in developed areas,"  and the past tense when you're describing the data development and analysis of your project (e.g., we used several images as data sources). Although you haven't done the work yet, when we get to those parts, write as if you've already completed your analysis, even though you haven't started yet. You'll slowly build the report, an assignment at a time, so you'll add to the introduction in future labs, and add methods, results and recommendations later. 

Look at the information on rainwater and runoff provided in the first week for motivation, and the example reports in this week's resources columns for example introductions. 

You should use a 11 or 12 point font, have 1" margins all around, 1.5 line spacing, section and subsection titles on their own line (e.g., "Introduction"  or "Study Area") and you should bold, italisize, and increase font size to set off titles if you wish.  All figures should be numbered sequentially, e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2, and referenced in the narrative. All tables should also be numbered sequentially.  Maps should have north arrows, scale bars, a descriptive title, and legend.

I'll expect you will have gone through the write-read-revise cycle several times, to make sure it is clear, concise, complete, well organized, and grammatically and factually correct. Read the materials in this week's resources column on general writing guidelines. 

By next Monday, before the start of class, turn in: 

1. A pdf map of the storm drains, with an image background and your study area boundary, and the usual map elements (title, name, legend, scalebar, etc.) 
2. A geodatabase with the study area boundary and storm drain layer, and
3. A draft introduction for your final report.

The geodatabase must be zipped/archived. Remember to follow the naming convention, i.e., include your initials at the end of the component files, and week designators in the file name, as described in last week's deadline section. For example, I might name my zip file something like pvb_stormGDB_W2.zip.

Week's Slides

Editing admonition

Storm Sewer Grates 
Storm sewer file for download here

You wish to create a data layer that identifies the sewer grates that serve as inlets into the stormwater pipes below ground. The UMN Physical Plant, in charge of maintaining Campus infrastructure, provided us with a file they use for managing the stormwater system, downloadable above. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide a clean separation of the features we're after, in that the data are on kind of several features in a layer. In addition, the file is not current, as some grate locations have been modified by construction since file creation.

The sewer grate inlets are in the point data file named Catch Basins. This file should be used as a starting point for developing the sewer grate data layer for your database. 

There are several types of features in the point file. The item MH_TYPE in the table holds Catch Basins, with a value of CB. You can ignore all the features with something different than a CB value for MH_TYPE. However, some of the CB points are NOT below sewer grates, so you'll have to eliminate some of the points in the provided file that are within your study area. 

There are catch basins that are not in your study area, or are not sewer grates, so you can visually identify those on the campus images, and in the field, and delete them.

We'll be using the leaf-off 2017 image as our base for data collection, so you will have to adjust the positions of sewer grates to match those in the image.  You do this by editing the digital data layer, either by digitizing new points and deleting the old, or by repositioning existing points.

Additional information for your report: 

Read the "General Guidelines for Writing" and the "Writing Hints" pdfs in the CLD\Writing directory, as you'll be submitting several reports in this class. 

Additional tools that might be useful:

• MS Windows Snip image from screen for figures 
• ArcGIS Pro Export image from data frame for figures
• ArcMap Export image from data frame for figures
• Using Draw.io to create a flowchart of your workflow

Examples of professionally written reports - good examples of proper tone, grammer, and level of detail:

1: Browns Creek
2: NPS Pollinator Survey
3: NPS Kettle Ponds
4: Dall Sheep Survey
5: Grand Sable Netting
 

Week 3 - Project Geodatabase Creation, Digitizing, Topology 

Monday:
Create a Geodatabase for your project area, containing the layers listed below. Review topology editing/digitizing in ArcGIS pro as needed (videos on right, and).

Your geodatabase should include:
1) A "Landcover" polygon layer that will hold sidewalks, plazas, grassy, forest, and shrub/flower bed areas, basically all road, non-building areas in your project area. Include a text attributes for this layer named material specifying asphalt/concrete, grass/forb, shrub, soil, or other. 

2) A "Building" polygon layer to hold all building footprints, with an attribute for the name (text), and roof type (categorical, with flat or pitched (non-flat) as categories).

3) A "Storm Sewer" point layer of all storm sewer grates, with a single attribute character attribute, verified (values of Y or N).  The value should be Y if you've field verified the existence of the grate, and N if you've only photo-interpreted the existence. You should import the layer you digitized last week.

4) A "Canopy" polygon layer of your tree canopy, with attributes for tree type (text) as conifer or broad-leaved, height (float, at least 1 decimal), class (tall or short), and verified (1 character text, Y/N).

5) If you have any, a layer that includes polygons of stormwater ponds, lakes, raingardens, or other infiltration areas, with a text attribute for type.

6) A "Boundary" layer that includes your study area boundary - you should import the one you digitized in week 1.

7) Layer topology, with, topological restrictions as:

• Land Cover and Buildings must not overlap,
• Land Cover polygons must not have gaps (except the holes created by Buildings) 
• Storm Sewer Grates must not be contained in Buildings
• Buildings and Land Cover must not overlap with Stormwater Ponds
• All layers must be contained within your Study Area Boundary

Wednesday: Start Digitizing All Layers in a Test Area. Pick a sub area, about 25% of your study area, to digitize ALL layers, and test the topology rules for that digitized area. Pick a test area with trees and buildings, although for some of you one or the other of these categories will be lightly represented, as some of the study areas have  very few trees or buildings over a large portion of their extent. 

Start digitizing using the 2017 leaf-off image, but you may also use the 2015, 2016, and 2018 images to look in areas where buildings, trees, or other features obscure the ground in the 2017 leaf-off image. Beware of construction and changes in roads and storm drain locations in the earlier images.

You need to turn in:
Before the start of class on Wednesday of this week:
A geodatabase with:

• Your completed storm drains and study area boundary, and empty feature data classes (layers) for buildings, canopy, landcover, and water/infiltration areas, 
• your first set of topological rules.

This is due before the start of class on this Wednesday.  You need to create the geodatabase and create the topology so that we can answer questions and start digitizing on Wednesday.

By next Monday before the start of class, turn in:

Your geodatabase with your completed storm sewer layer, your study area boundary layer,  partially digitized feature classes for the other  layers, and completely specified topology rules.

You should also turn in a pdf map of progress on your 25% test area, with the usual map elements.

Remember to use our standard naming convention (initials on the front, week on the back of the name), and zip up your data into an archive.

Strategies for digitizing  - NEVER digitize the same line twice, beware overlapping areas

Editing, see the intro videos provided in Week 1 on digitizing points and polygons, and these below, excerpted and modified from FNRM3131 for more efficient digitizing:

• polygon snapping 
• split polygons
• merge polygons
• autocomplete polygons
• clip digitizing
  
• using transparent and hatch fills

Below are more videos on topology, the first a bit repetitive from what's been provided, but 2nd and third videos below help with the actual mechanics of creating topology and fixing topological errors in ArcGIS: 

-Topology concepts, 
-Create topology, 
-Fixing topological errors 

Week 4 - Complete All Layers for your 25% test area, Edit to "Clean/Remove" all Topological Errors, Digitize buildings for your Entire Study Area, and Condition and Integrate Soils Data.

Complete digitizing your sample area (remember, about 25% of your study area), using the digitizing strategies discussed this week. You should verify your topology, and practice fixing errors. Your data does not have to be completely "clean," and there may be "real" errors that need to be fixed, but make sure you understand how to find and fix errors using the various topological editing tools, as you will apply them next week, as well as doing.

Digitize  ALL BUILDINGS for your building data layer over your entire study area. Use primarily the 2017 images, but as need include the 2015 through 2018 leaf on and leaf off images to locate building edges as best you can. 

Complete the exercise : Soils data 

Read the instructions and download soils data for your study area, and condition it so that it is useful for your analysis.

Create a map that contains only your 25% test area, showing your landcover and building data layer, and display the topology, making sure you are displaying any errors. Be sure to include the topology  and participating layers in your PDF map. It is o.k. if you still have topological errors, we'll be fixing those next week.

Create a second map that shows the soils data and building polygons.

Next Monday, before the start of class turn in:

1) Your completed geodatabase for your 25% test area, all layers (Land Cover, Buildings, Storm Sewer Grates, Canopy, Study Area Bound, Ponds and other Collecting Areas, if you have them). It is o.k. if your landcover layer includes topological errors. Note that your tree canopy and building polygon layer should be completely digitized, although the attributes may not be complete.  Also turn in:

2) the PDF map showing only your 25% sample area (not your entire study area), with your landcover and tree canopy data layers.

3) a PDF map of the soils polygons clipped to your study area, colored by maximum absorption.

Observe the usual requirements for the map elements, all data maps in one archive, and archive naming and submission.

Remember to use our standard naming convention (initials on the front, week on the back of the name), and zip up your data into an archive.

Slides for Soil Data

Week 5 - Complete your 25% area, digitize entire canopy, start methods section for report

Complete cleaning the topology for your sample area (remember, about 25% of your study area), and verify and fix topology, keeping the data logically consistent across layers. Your data should be topologically "clean," with all "real" errors fixed, before you turn it in, but if it isn't, turn in progress by the deadline.

Complete digitizing the canopy layer for your entire study area,

Expand digitizing landcover beyond the 25% area, and apply/fix your topology if you have time.

Create a map that contains only your test/sample area, showing your landcover and building data layers, and display the "clean" topology, that is, after topology checks and fixing any errors. Be sure to include the topology  and participating data layers in your PDF map, and that only the "faux" errors appear in your topology.

Create a map of your canopy for your entire study area, with your study area boundary and an image background

Start on the Methods section for your final report,  describing data creation.  This should be four to six pages of 1.5 spaced text, in addition to several figures, including figures containing digitized layers, one for the landcover and sewer grates, one for soils, one combining buildings and canopy, and one for topology. You may use the maps you've already produced for previous assignments, as appropriate.

Next Monday, before the start of class turn in:

• Your geodatabase, with the soils data layer and your completed layers, including, buildings, and canopy, and grates, and progress on your remaining layers.
•  A pdf map with your completed 25% area digitized, including landcover and building layers, and your clean topology, with all errors fixed. Include the topology in the legend and on the map.
• A pdf of the tree canopy for your entire study area.

Week 6 - Digitize and Write Methods

• Complete digitizing your entire study area, primarily the landcover layer. Build the topology for your layer, and be in progress fixing any topological errors.
• Edit/improve your introduction according to feedback you received on your last draft, and
• Complete  the  Methods section for your final report that covers data development.

 Create PDF maps of your study area,

• one with landcover, sewers, and buildings, with topology,
• a second with tree canopy and soils

Next Monday, before class,
turn in:

A geodatabase with with all your completed landcover data for your entire study area.

Two pdf maps,

• one that displays your sewers, landcover, and topology with existing errors for your entire study area,
• and a second that includes soils by absorption and tree canopy by interception class.

Include an image background, and the usual other map elements.

Add to your final report draft, including your revised introduction and your new methods section as one document.

Week 7 - Watershed Definition

Calculate Watersheds for your Study Area
Create watersheds for all sewer grates that drain more than 5,000 square meters in your study area.

Creating watersheds was covered in FNRM3131/5131, taken by most folks in this course, so we'll provide a reduced set of instructions. There are videos and pdfs in this week's resouces section that cover the steps.

Prior to filling the DEMS, you should run the SINK function in the ArcToolbox->Spatial Analyst->Hydrology tools in ArcMap. This will show the general extent of sinks, and you may then use the inquire cursor over the sink regions to identify the depth of most sinks. This will be useful in setting the depth for the fill process.

You will use the sewer grates as your pour points/outlets for your watersheds. Note that because the DEM contains some error, the flowpaths won't intersect many of your sewer grates, but only run near.  You should create a copy of your true sewer grate locations layer, and modify this copy to move the grates to fall on the appropriate nearest flowpath in the SNAP POURPOINT function.  Make sure you work on the copy.

Include these watersheds and the corresponding pourpoint layer as part of your geodatabase you turn in next Monday before class.

Create and turn in a PDF map with an image background that shows your study area boundary, the pourpoints, watersheds as semi-transparent overlays, along with all the title, name, and other basic map elements. 

Next Monday, before class, turn in:

your completed geodatabase, all layers, with completed, edited, "clean" topology.  If you had your topology completed last week, please turn in another copy here, for completeness, and so we don't miss it in grading.

Note that you will be graded on both the completeness and accuracy of the data in your geodatabase. Your topology should be included in your geodatabase. You must have all data digitized, and should have very few topological errors

• Your completed, edited, topologically correct geodatabase
• A total of two maps, both with image backgrounds and your study area boundary, that depict:

1. A hydrology map with watershed outlines (not filled, so we can see the air photo below), pourpoints/sewer grates, and vector flowlines from the classified/recoded flow accumulation layer with a stream threshold of 800 square meters
2. A map with your landcover layer and topology, with errors, depicted.  You should only have the "faux" errors that ArcGIS shows.

Monday Slides 

Watersheds

DEM fill, sinks, flow direction, flow accumulation

Snap pour points (grates), Watersheds

Excerpt from Hydro Processing lab in 3131/5131

1st student Hydro Processing 1 Report

2nd student Hydro Processing Report

Week 8 - Project Roadmap, and familiarize yourself with the new, mostly complete data

Monday in Class - we'll discuss the overall project, analysis, and output. Participation IS Mandatory

Carefully re-read the semester project description provided in the first week, and develop a draft flowchart of analysis. You need to think about  the spatial operations and order in which they'll be applied, represented by a box and arrows diagram you'll apply. 

Re-read the project description before class, and come prepared to ask questions about anything that's not clear.

We will provide you with campus wide data very similar to those you have been developing. All work from here forward will be using these campus-wide data, and NOT those that you have developed.  The data are available on the class lab drive, and via a zip file to the right, in Resources.

You may have to modify the data layers a bit for your analysis, e.g., re-calculate the watersheds, move the drain pour-points, and modify a few attributes, but these are relatively minor.

Your task is to estimate the runoff as described in the semester project document, for various storms under current landscape conditions, and after modifying tree canopy, landcover, buildings, and underground storage to mitigate rainstorms.

We will discuss an example flowchart, and provide a refresher on the raster calculator, raster to vector conversion, and some background for the specific problem.

You will have to add details to the flowchart, or create an alternative detailed one to estimate base runoff estimates for various storms.

Complete the Flowcharting exercise.

Wednesday - Analysis and Tools

• Assign table values by selection/edit, recode table, join table  
• Union, intersect, Clip, Erase
• Raster to Vector conversion

We'll review these tools in class, and describe how we might use them in a workflow to solve your primary analysis.

You should review the general information in the resources on how to use the tools.

You need to create two intermediate layers for this week,  processing you'll need for your analysis.

First, select/assign or otherwise recode the soils data based on absorption, to create a column that has maximum absorption.

Second, use the selection/edit or other tools to recode the canopy layer to a CInt layer for canopy interception, and Union this with the study area boundary to create polygons with a column that has values equal to the amount the canopy interception based on canopy height and tree type. Note the union is to include areas that have no canopy, so zero canopy interception.

Before the start of class on Wednesday, this week,

turn in your flowchart exercise - first draft of your flowchart

Week's Slides

Example flowchart

Flowchart description

Week 9 - More Tools: 

• Raster to Vector conversion
• Zonal Sums

We'll review these tools in class, and describe how we might use them in a workflow to solve your primary analysis.

You should review the general information in the resources on how to use the tools.

By next Monday, before class, turn in:

Make your analysis easier: Add a custom toolbox in ArcMap-

Search for Tools Raster-vector conversion

Week 10 - More Tools

Zonal sum

B

Week 11 - 

Work on Model Application to the Study Watersheds

Complete a detailed flowchart of your workflow which fills in missing steps and specific details (all arcgis tools/functions, names of intermediate data sets) so that it may serve as a roadmap to your analysis.

.

Before class on Wednesday, this week, turn in your latest flowchart - added details, ready for you to begin analysis in earnest.  This flowchart should have enough detail to demonstrate that you've started your analysis, and have experimented with the various steps and determined the specific arcgis tools, and specific parameters for each tool, you'll be using for each operation

ModelBuilder description and assignment (optional, extra credit) 
read and understand, optional for undergraduates to turn in the assignment, but using model builder could greatly ease the subsequent repeat analysis

Week 12 - Complete First Analysis of Current Conditions

Report draft 1 requirements - This first draft should include
1) the runoff volume and cost tables for your the 2.5 cm rainfall condition, in the format specified in the project description, and
2) a base map showing the watersheds on a campus image

Remember that the target audience is the set of administrators in charge of the University physical environment and stormwater management. They don't know anything about GIS software, or GIS theory, or any jargon on geospatial analysis terms. You need to provide enough detail so that an intelligent non-expert will understand what you did, and be convinced that your methods are sound and your results valid.

Turn in next Monday, before class:

• Report Draft 1 and data, including runoff volume calculations for at least 1 grate/watershed in table

You will most likely find it easiest to calculate a runoff "credit" for each of your rain gardens/surface infiltration areas, and underground storage features.  This credit is equal to the rain garden area in square meters, times 0.5 (maximum depth of rain garden, in meters), to calculate storage cubic meters of water. Your sum for the containing watershed should be reduced by this amount.  An underground storage feature is simply a point placed on a flowpath as near the outlet pourpoint as feasible, with an assigned maximum storage volume.

Note that the effective placement of rain gardens and underground storage requires they be on or near (a few meters) an existing flowpath.  Since flowpaths depend on the specific DEM, which in turn depends on the conditioning parameters, the DEM used in this analysis, along with corresponding flow accumulation, flow direction, and flowpaths are included in the finaldata directory on the L: drive. The flow1000 shapefile contains flowlines that drain 1000 1m cells or more. The ecDEM, ecfac, and ecfdir contain the DEM, flow accumulation, and flow direction rasters as tiffs, should you need them.

Also note that the rain garden must be downslope from a runoff generating area (impervious, building, saturated soil) in your watersh

Week 13 -  Project work, modifications and analysis to mitigate runoff for prescribed rainfall amounts

Examples of professionally written reports - good examples of proper tone, grammer, and level of detail:

1: Browns Creek
2: NPS Pollinator Survey
3: NPS Kettle Ponds
4: Dall Sheep Survey
5: Grand Sable Netting
 

Week 14 - Report Draft, and Continue Analysis Under Modifications

Report Draft 2 should include
1) your introduction (about 2 pages of text and not counting figures, 1.5 line spacing, 11 pt font or smaller) that briefly introduces the project, with a problem statement, location, goals, and basic approach, and supporting figures/maps,

2) Your methods (about 2-3 pages of text, not counting figures). You should describe the data layers and basic methods for developing them. Do not provide a sequential list or narrative of data development (first we did this, then we did that), and you only need to identify the software or specific software tools once, in the general introduction of methods.  Include important parameters that affect data quality, e.g., snap tolerances in digitizing. Include at least one figure of the output layers, and your flowchart of analysis. 

3) a written description of results for your 2.5 cm (1")  and and 5 cm (2") rainfalls under current conditions, including the completed tables for both of these "as is" conditions, including a discussion and supporting figures/maps that identify areas that generate large amounts of runoff, and potential approaches for mitigation for these areas.

4) a map of at least two layers that have been modified to mitigate runoff, e.g., of canopy, or rain garden locations.  These may be "in progress", that is, the layers may only cover a subset of target watersheds, and be further modified to improve your runoff mitigation, but you must show substantial progress at this point.

5) Include an appendiz with a first draft of maps of each input data layer.

No class final; all assignments due by Wednesday, December 21, 1:30 pm

You should turn in three final geodatabases:

1) A geodatabase with the word "Current" in the name that contains data used for calculating your "current condition" runoff for 2.5 cm and 5 cm storms. These are the base final data, as provided, with any modifications to the main data layers.  The geodatabase should also include your final "surplus water" layer, that is, the layer that you summed by watershed to get the total runoff volume for the study areas. 

2) A geodatabase with "2p5cm" in the name, that includes the modified layers used to obtain your 2.5 cm mitigation of runoff. You should include both the original and modified layers for a 1" storm only, that is, the original canopy layer and the canopy layer with added trees for a 1" storm, and NOT the canopy layers  or any other layers for a 2" storm.  If you did not need to modify a layer to reach the 1" threshold (e.g., no green roofs required for buildings), then just include the original layer (e.g., the original buildings).
Include any of the modified layers from: a) canopy, b) rain gardens/surface storage, c)perviousness, d) buildings (with green roofs attributed), e) subsurface storage entry points.

3) Same as 2, except for the 5 cm rainfall, with "5cm" in the name of the geodatabase. DO NOT include any of the modified layers from the 2.5 cm analysis, but DO include your original data layers and any modified data layers needed to meet the 5 cm requirements.

Your final report should include the information provided in previous drafts, plus a description/discussion of the changes for reducing runoff to zero under the different rainfall amounts. This should include appropriate maps/figures.

Thursday Dec 18, by 11:55 p.m., turn in your final report, via Canvas, and your copy your final data to the 4295Share\Z_FinalData\yourname subdirectory